


The Shackle Unbroken

by Demona424



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 03:00:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1728617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demona424/pseuds/Demona424
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Harvest Festival was supposed to be a time to celebrate the rebirth of their district and a time of remembrance for those they had lost. For Peeta, most days are fine, somedays can even be really good, including today, but somehow he can never seem to truly escape from that prison he left behind so long ago. Luckily he has people who love him enough to do whatever it takes to help him escape the prison of his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shackle Unbroken

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a short story that was written for the F Yeah Everlark Round 1: Captive (http://fyeah-everlark.tumblr.com). Huge thanks to que-sera-sera88 for putting this challenge together, it actually forced me to write a story in less than 2 days which is amazing for me! Also, big thanks to my wonderful beta Diana_Flynn for always helping me.

"How ya doing son? Are you cleaning up all by yourself?" Peeta looked from the platters and supplies he was packing away in a box and found Sae ambling her way slowly towards him with her granddaughter not far behind munching on a candied apple. A warm smile spread on his face at the sight of them, it had been a busy day and it was a relief to see such familiar welcoming faces.

"Yup, just little ol' me over here. Johanna was tired from the trip over so Katniss took her home to get settled. Not much for me to take back to the bakery anyway," he answered, exhaustion clear in his voice and in the slight tremor of his hands.

"Well, I saved a special pot of stew just for my favorite children, everything else was gobbled up in two shakes of a lambs tail. Not surprising, considering how good my cooking is," Sae said with a wink, plopping down a pretty big container of her delicious grub and Peeta's smile grew even wider. He rounded the table, put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close and left a kiss on the top of her gray head.

"I knew you were my favorite mom for a reason. I'm starving, today was so busy I barely had time to breathe let alone eat anything besides a muffin. This is just the thing to set a guy right. I'm sure the girls will appreciate it too."

Sae leaned into him a little bit more before saying, "It was sure busy today, but it was a pretty good day wasn't it?"

Peeta looked around the town square and he could safely say it had never looked so beautiful. The sun had just dipped below horizon and it was that inbetween time that made you think there was fairy dust in the air. Children whizzed around, with streamers and toys, chasing each other as laughter floated around them. A dance floor had also been set up and the band, played enthusiastically even if some of instruments were slightly out of tune and the crowd that remained on the dance floor happily matched their enthusiasm. They were his neighbors, his friends and they were all survivors.

"Yeah, it had been a pretty damn good day," he answered as Sae's little granddaughter Mirah hugged him around the middle. 

He couldn't believe that it was already two years since the war had ended. District 12 was succeeding more than anyone had ever predicted. Between the determination of it's people and the surprising help from the Capitol, it had been rebuilt relatively fast. Without the ever present coal dust, laying over everything, it also looked better than it had ever been. He was honestly surprised so many people decided to come live here. At one point he thought there would only be 100 people tops, but people came despite the bad memories that still lingered here. And even more, people from other districts, mostly from 13 and 11, eventually showed up. Maybe it was the new industry or maybe they had their own memories to run away from, but either way their community had grown and in many ways tightened. 

The Harvest Festival had always been the one time District 12 would gather as a community and tried to celebrate even if with meager supplies. The year after the war, the pain had still been too bright, the exhaustion too overwhelming to even remember that it had ever existed. But as the second year rolled forward to it's close, talk grew of having a small event. People needed something to look forward to, something to celebrate the rebuilding. There was some grumblings that it was too soon, but Thom and Delly launched a campaign and soon other people followed. 

To his surprise, Katniss was one of the first to volunteer to help plan. He wasn't quite sure what her motivation had been, but he suspected she needed some purpose to focus on. It was also her idea to have a ceremony the evening before the Festival to honor all their departed family and friends. As the light from the setting sun grew dimmer, the brightness of their candles grew brighter and their voices grew louder in song. There was not one dry eye in the meadow that evening but in some small way it had been a cleansing moment for everyone. 

The next morning dawned bright and crisp, more cheerful then most had expected. Without the specter of the games hanging over their head, for once they did not have to hold their breath and say prayers for the reaping that usually followed. To the surprise of some and the delight of those who put so much work into the planning, the Harvest Festival had been a complete success. There was more more than enough food to go around, games for all, and a community spirit that had never been present before. Peeta of course brought out a table of bread, pastries, and cupcakes that was free for the taking. But the day had been so busy he rarely had a chance to enjoy what was taking place around him. 

As Sae and Mirah pulled away from him, he shook himself out of his thoughts. His leg was definitely starting to ache and so was his head after such a long day so he was looking forward to kicking back on the couch with a large bowl of stew to warm his belly.

“Well, do you need any help taking those boxes back to the bakery?” Sae asked moving toward them.

“Don’t bother over those. Vick is helping me out right now. Not sure where he's run off to though. Probably chasing after a girl.”

“Well, the least we can do is escort you,” she said as she moved around him and grabbed the pot of food back off the table. She nudged Mirah forward and the girl quietly picked up the smaller of the two boxes without being told. Peeta could only shake his head at Sae, there was little he could do to stop her when she wanted to do something. 

They silently moved their way through what was left of the milling crowd. He wished he could have taken pleasure in watching the joyful crowd around him but the noises only seemed to increase intensity, pressing into him and a red hot pain started to pulse brightly at the base of his skull. He just needed somewhere quiet and cool to rest a little while, to just catch his breath. He soldiered forward toward the bakery trying to hide from Sae as best as he could any of the pain. What was the point of worrying her when he’d be fine just as soon as he could sit down for a bit.

Two kids suddenly cut across their path as they came barreling through the area and he had to stop short in order not to knock into them and the sharp stop caused a pain to shoot up his already throbbing leg. This didn’t help his head any better and everything swam in and out of focus for a moment. He blinked his eyes, trying to get everything to clear up, but everything started to shine a little brighter, a little hotter. His heart pounded in panic, and he prayed that he could hold off for just a few more minutes to get to a quiet safe place. 

“Gotcha!” one of the little boys yelled happily as he grabbed on to his friend. “You’re my prisoner now. Now you can’t move for a whole minute.” At the child’s words, Peeta’s whole world seemed to shift, the square fading away and walls closed in around him.

_‘You thought you could escape from me, that you would win? I own you Peeta Mellark, every single part of you. I can do with you and everyone else whatever I want to. You’re powerless to do anything about it. Don’t think that escape is ever a possibility. Where would you go anyway, there is no one left who loves you and it’s all your fault.’_

The words echoed around him, each one ripping into his head like a hot knife. The box fell from his arms, the objects it contained scattering everywhere but he paid no attention. He gripped at his hair and tightly shut his eyes trying to gain any control but it was useless, he was powerless to stop what was happening to him. When he opened his eyes, the square shimmered back and forth between walls of dark wet cement and all he could focus on was one red door with the name Mellark over it so he stumbled over to it like it was his only hope of salvation. 

_____________________________________

“Damn, I am done for today. Just leave me here, I don’t think I can ever move again.” Johanna sprawled herself on the couch, limbs all akimbo and hair in complete disarray. “Just moving is exhausting, why did I think it was a good idea to come to your damn Harvest Festival with this little spawn sucking the life out of me?”

“Don’t look at me, it was your idea to make your way out here when you’re seven months pregnant. I try not to rationalize crazy,” answered Katniss as she plopped down on the chair next to her and wiggled her toes in the soft rug. The day had been completely exhausting, good, but exhausting. She was glad to see the end of the festival so she could just crawl into her bed and once again and forget the world existed, for at least a week. 

“Technically I’m only 26 weeks pregnant,” Jo mumbled, an arm thrown over her eyes, already halfway to sleep.

“Okay, 26 weeks, does it really matter anyway, you’re still pregnant,” Katniss replied.

“I fucking know that Brainless. And it’s a pain in the ass, so don’t do it, it sucks.” Johanna rolled over on to her side and pointed two fingers towards her face, “See these eyes, I’m am completely serious. Don’t do it.”

Katniss just let out a laugh, “No need to convince me. Does it look like I’m capable of taking care of a small child? Babies are not in our future and I’m not ever changing my mind,” she answered as she shook her head, “So are you ever going to tell me who the baby's father is?”

“Nope!” Johanna answered with a pop of her lips. “You’ll have to pry that information from my cold dead fingers.” She rolled over again and this time faced the back of the couch and Katniss knew that was the end of the conversation.

They both let the silence fall over them as sleepiness started to win out. She wasn’t even sure if her and Johanna were ever quite friends, maybe reluctant sisters was more an accurate description, but one thing was for sure, she was forever grateful that she didn’t have to be anything but herself around her. If they didn’t want to talk, they didn’t, it was as simple as that. Neither of them pushed the other to do anything out of their comfort zone and there was comfort in that. Katniss and Peeta often found Johanna at their door without prior warning and they never knew how long she would say, but they just simply opened the door wider to let her in. When she showed up pregnant a few months prior to this visit, they asked a few questions, got even fewer answers and let it drop.

Just as Katniss was moving over from the side of partial wakefulness into full sleep, a noise in the distance touched her ear. She popped up in her seat in nervous anticipation, somehow knowing that whoever it was that was pounding up the road was coming for her. As she got up out of her seat, Johanna noticed the anxious movements and opened one eye, “What’s going on?”

Katniss opened her mouth ready to say she had no clue when Vick Hawthorne came bursting through the door obviously breaking hard fromrunning. His breath came hard and fast so she knew he had must have booked it at full speed all the way from the square. He was struggling to get the words out, but he didn’t need to, she just knew it had to be Peeta. She had pushed down her worry over him all weekend knowing that he had been trying to handle to much.

“Where is he?” she asked.

“He’s locked himself in the bakery. We can’t get to him. He seems pretty out of it Katniss,” he finally managed to say.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Johanna asked in confusion as she struggled to get off the couch. 

“Peeta, he’s having another episode,” answered Katniss as she headed for the door not looking back. 

“Katniss, wait up, I’ll come with you,” she said as she shuffled quickly after Katniss, much faster than she ever expected from her slow moving friend.

“No, you stay here. It’s hard enough to get him back to reality when he’s in this state. Who knows how long it will be, sometimes he won’t even get near me. It’s best if you stay far away from it.”

"No, I'm coming Katniss, I promise I move faster than I look like I do," she said as she pushed past Katniss and grabbed her jacket from the hook and threw it on before promptly heading out the door. Katniss wanted to protest, but quickly realized that it was no use to try and stop her. 

The road back into town had never seemed so long and she cursed her short legs because she just couldn't seem to move fast enough. Sometimes if she could get to him early on in the episode, they were able to stop it by getting him to refocus, but if it went on unchecked, there were times where he was lost to them for a couple of days. Those were the times that frightened her the most because she feared that she might never get him to come back to her. 

As they approached the town square, she was relieved to see that everybody was going about their business, none-the-wiser about what was happening behind the bakery door. She knew that he would be mortified if any attention was brought to him in such a vulnerable spot. Sae rushed over to them, worry etched on her aging face.

"Honey, I didn't know he was so on the edge, I should have seen it, he seemed fine," she said and Katniss's heart pinched at the guilt she could hear in her voice. She grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

"It's okay, you know him, sometimes too proud. He probably didn't want to worry you. He does it to me all the time. Were you able to get in?"

"No, he locked the door behind him. I haven't heard too much noise so hopefully he's not done any damage to himself this time."

"Thanks Sae," was all she could answer around the lump in her throat. She cautiously approached the door as she listened for any sounds coming from the other side but it was completely silent. She stopped suddenly before she got to the door and she didn't realize how close Johanna had been because she bumped right into her back.

"Jo, are you sure you want to go in there with me? We don't know what state he's in. It might be unsafe for the baby," she said as she took her keys out of her pocket, her hand slightly shaking in trepidation.

"Don't worry about me or the little sprog, we'll be fine. I seriously doubt a lunatic Peeta is the worst thing that I've seen or experienced." She gave Katniss a little shove and it was just the push she needed to open the door in front of her.

She cautiously peeked through the doorway but couldn't see anything at first. The sun had long past set and what light remained didn't penetrate the interior. She cocked her head trying to catch any sound or movement and as she held her breath she caught the tremble of a an erratic breath. Not wanting to scare him too much, especially if he was lost in the world of shiny visions, she turned on the low lights in the display case, just enough to provide the room with dim illumination. But even that movement caught him off guard and he scrambled further into the back of the room. 

"Leave me alone!" he yelled so harshly that despite her distance it caused her to jump back. "I've done what you've asked, just leave me in peace or let me die, please just let me die." Tears sprung to her eyes at his words. He was completely lost inside a world she couldn't reach. She knew that if she approached him now the word "Mutt" was sure to follow. She took another step back and Johanna's small hand landed on her shoulder. 

"Katniss, it's okay, I think I know what might help," she said.

"It's useless, when he's like this it could take hours, days even. God, I'm useless," she said, barely able to keep it together.

"Katniss, you're far from useless, you're his salvation, just like he's yours. Come on." She took the lead and confidently sat herself down in front of Peeta and crossed her legs. He skittered back a few inches before he looked up at her and recognition dawned, "Jo? Is that you?"

"Sure is dough boy," she answered as she lay her hand on his knee. He jumped a little but he didn't move away. 

"I heard your screams, I tried to get to you, I really did, but they wouldn't let me, and then they burned me, all of me. I'm so sorry, I'm a failure," at this, he started to sob and move away from her but she dug her hand into his leg and kept him with her. She reached out with her other hand and gestured for Katniss to come over to her. Katniss was more than reluctant, afraid that she would do more harm than good at this point but she slowly lowered herself next to them, careful not to touch him.

“Go away, you’re not her, you’re just here to torment me. You’re not real,” he sounded more broken than angry, more tired than violent and that made her hurt for him exponentially.

Johanna turned to her and whispered quietly into her ear, “Katniss, I need you to sing for him.”

“What? Why?” she asked a little panicked. She hadn’t sung since that time she spent isolated for so long and she hadn’t really had an urge to since. Frankly she was a little afraid to.

“Because you have to. The only time he would feel any moment of peace was when I sang to him in that prison and I’m a terrible singer, I mean terrible Katniss. And if you sing to him, maybe, just maybe he’ll believe that you’re real. That’s the one thing they didn’t take from him. You need, to trust me, I’m the smart one of the bunch.” She gestured Katniss to sing and when only silence followed, her eyes grew dangerously sharp with determination, her mouth set in a line and growled out, “Do it” between her teeth. 

There was one song her father used to sing to her as a little child, it was so old nobody knew where it quite came from, but she kept it close to her heart all this time. 

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine  
You make me happy when skies are grey  
You never know, dear, how much I love you  
Please don't take my sunshine away...”

When she finished, he looked up and she could see the clarity seeping into his eyes, “Katniss?”

“Yeah, I’m here Peeta,” she said, swallowing some tears as she grabbed his warm hand.

“I’m going to leave you two alone,” Johanna interjected before she slowly heaved herself off the floor. Before she could get too far, Katniss reached up and grabbed her hand.

“How did you know that would work?” she asked.

“I told you, I’m the smart one, you’re just too stubborn to listen,” was her only answer before she turned away and waddled out the door, silently closing the door behind her.

“Oh God, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened, I was suddenly there, and I didn’t know how to escape, I just couldn’t get out.” Peeta clutched tightly to her arms and dragged her on to his lap. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he cried into her neck. She could only lay her head on top of his and hugged him tightly to her, just rocking them back and forth as he released the demons with his sobs. 

“Am I never going to be free? I feel like I’m always going to be a captive to the Capitol, to Snow. Maybe he’s right, he’ll always own me.” With those words of dejection, she pulled suddenly away from him and grabbed his face between her hands and forced him to look into her eyes.

“Stop it Peeta. He doesn’t own us, he never did. We may be wounded and scarred, but we’re here together and he is gone. We can survive this together. And, well, maybe with a little help from Johanna. But don't tell her I said that.”

He let out a small smile and leaned his forehead against hers before he moved in to give her a soft kiss. “Thank you Katniss, I needed to hear that. With everything that I've been through, that I've lost, I just need you to help me move on.”

“Just promise that when it’s my turn and I can’t get out of bed, you’ll just hold me, okay?” she answered.

“Always Katniss, always,” was his only answer. As her arms held him tightly, feeling like a secure life vest in a storm, he knew they still had a long way to go. But for the first time in a long time he really had hope that they didn’t just survive, they could really live.


End file.
